Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2007

  • The Mind’s I

    There’s a very good article about consciousness by Steven Pinker in the current issue of Time magazine. Well worth reading.
     
    (a tip of the hat to Mind Hacks for the link, and acknowledgements to Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett for stealing the punning title of their excellent book to be the title of this post)

  • Bugger McNaught

    I still haven’t seen the damn thing, and people keep on posting images like this to taunt me. Well, bugger it, I say.

  • Stormy Weather

    Yesterday, the Netherlands, along with much of the rest of Western Europe, was hit by a major storm. We were very lucky, we had some tree damage in the garden, and some tiles got ripped off the garage roof, but that was all. I was concerned for the roof of the farmhouse, but as far as I can see, it came through unscathed.
     
    Two pine trees came down during the height of the storm and blocked the road outside. Fortunately, a neighbour brought a tractor and chain and pulled them off the road. I think we’re going to have to cut down our poplar trees as well. One of them is leaning at a dangerous angle, and I suspect that the others may need to come down. Some of the other trees have lost branches, but all things considered, we’ve had very little damage, certainly in comparison to some of our neighbours, who have lost large sections of their roofs in some cases.
     
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  • Going Dutch

    After 23 years living in The Netherlands, I’ve taken the step of obtaining Dutch citizenship. While officially this occurred last month, yesterday was the occasion of the naturalisation ceremony held in the local townhall. It’s an opportunity for the State to recognise those individuals who have become Dutch in a small ceremony. Nothing too serious, but a nice gesture.
     
    There were a number of us at yesterday’s ceremony. Here we are, together with the Deputy Mayor who officiated.
     
    20070119-0154-54 
     
    In case you are wondering about the characters in the background wearing orange hats, they are my friends and neighbours who showed up to give their support. I had told the Townhall that I’d just be bringing Martin and one other friend, but Martin surprised me with this large group. Fortunately, there was enough coffee and cakes for everyone.
     
    Afterwards, we returned home, and the party continued…
     
    20070118-1618-03 
     

  • Another Slap In The Face

    So, Microsoft has now announced that it will be introducing a Family Discount option for families with several computers at home to upgrade to Windows Vista at a cheaper price than buying individual copies.
     
    Good news, thought I, until I read the small print: "this offer is only valid in the US and Canada". What??! Well, thanks for nothing, Microsoft. I notice that someone has commented on the announcement saying: "I know that those in the UK and Europe will be a little dissapointed [sic] that program is US and Canada only". A little disappointed? Listen, matey, I’m bloody fuming!

  • Undermining Respect

    Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, reflects on the language used by pressure groups opposed to stem cell research, and wonders whether they mean what they say. She has a point.

  • The Time of Day

    Another little quiz to waste a couple of minutes with…
     
    You Are Sunrise

    You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary.
    You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward.
    Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You’re often cooking for friends or buying them gifts.
    All in all, you know how to love life for what it is – not for how it should be.

    What Time Of Day Are You?

     

     
    It all sounds wonderful. But I can’t help feeling that the test has totally overlooked my inner misanthrope…
     
    (hat tip to Not Saussure)
     
    Update: I had originally used misogynist in place of misanthrope above. I meant the latter, of course, I’m an equal-opportunity pessimist…

  • The Evil Within

    Theodore Dalrymple considers the question of whether evil is instrinsic in the human condition. And comes to the conclusion, which I share, that it is a component that cannot be easily dismissed.
     
    (hat tip to Normblog)

  • Virtually Unreal

    On the day when Niall Stanage weighs in with a rather silly piece on the danger of Second Life (clue: the backstory has nothing to do with Second Life whatsoever), Not Saussure points us towards the true surrealness of the phenomenon.
     
     

  • Tog on the iPhone

    Bruce Tognazzini has a column on the iPhone, which, given his background, naturally focuses on the iPhone’s user experience. He’s at a slight disadvantage in that he hasn’t actually used one, but he does a pretty good job of commenting on what it’s likely to feel like. More to the point, he extrapolates beyond this first generation of the iPhone into devices that he’s really like to get his hands on.
     
    By the way, his piece also has a link to his page on the Starfire Project, which is worth checking out – and you can download the Starfire film. I remember this from 1993. You thought that Minority Report got there first showing a gesture-based interface? Wrong – it was there in the 1993 film of the Starfire Project. Also notice the social interactions based around the concept of always-on video messaging.

  • The Meta Man

    Unless you’re a computer nerd, you’ve probably never heard of Charles Simonyi. And even if you’re a nerd, you may not know the name of the person behind techniques and tools that are familiar to legions of programmers. Here’s your chance to find out the story behind the name.
     
    But forgive me if I remain skeptical about his latest venture. I remember that something similar was touted back in 1981. It was called "The Last One". It wasn’t, of course; the problem is a little bit more tricky than that…

  • Comet McNought?

    I’m getting the feeling that everyone except me is seeing comet McNaught. Take this picture, for example. I still haven’t seen the damn thing. Now I learn that it’s even possible to see it in the daytime, but, of course, today there is heavy cloud cover so that plan dies stillborn as well.

  • Pocket Money

    This is prompted by From the Heart of Europe.
     
    Count all the euro (and related) coins in your pocket – not by how much they are worth, but by which country they come from. (The full list of coins showing which ones come from which country can be found in many places, including http://www.euro.gov.uk/eurocoins.asp)
     
    Germany: 6
    Netherlands: 3
    France: 1
    Italy: 1
    Finland: 1
     
    Now, which country do you live in? Germany
     
    Obviously it helps to do this meme if you live in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican, Andorra, Montenegro or Kosovo, but people outside those enchanted places can play too.

  • Rooms To Let

    OK, I promise that this will absolutely be my last comment on the subject, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to draw your attention to this week’s Jesus and Mo…

  • Noaberschap

    One thing we’ve noticed since we moved to this part of The Netherlands last March is that the sense of community is still pretty strong around here. There is the local custom of Noaberschap (neighbourliness), where neighbours are expected to help each other out when necessary. We were touched when the young farmer across the field formally asked us if we would be Noaste Noabers (literally closest neighbours) to him and his girlfriend. This means that we are responsible for organising the rest of Herman and José’s neighbourhood in times of celebration or need (e.g. weddings or funerals). Hopefully, it’ll be the former, rather than the latter.
     
    We’ve just had the first celebration. Today was the day when Herman officially became the owner of the farm. So yesterday, the rest of the neighbourhood was at our house painting signs and making paper roses to decorate a pair of fir trees.
     
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    Then today, while Herman was at the notary to sign the papers, we set everything in place to officially welcome Herman and José to the neighbourhood.
     
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  • Ball Lightning

    Ball lightning is the name given to a phenomenon occasionally reported during thunderstorms. It takes the form of a glowing ball of intense light that persists for several seconds. There have been several theories as to what causes ball lightning.
     
    New Scientist reports this week on a laboratory experiment in support of one of the theories. It’s quite possible that this is good evidence in support of the theory. Watch the video clip. Mind you, unlike one of the researchers, I don’t think I would wear flip-flops while doing this particular experiment.

  • Vista Pricing

    It’s an interesting exercise to compare the price differences of Microsoft’s Vista operating system between the US and Europe.
     
    For example, the price of an upgrade version of Windows Vista Ultimate is quoted by Amazon in the US as $249.99, while the same software is quoted by Amazon in the UK as £249.99 – equivalent to $487, a markup of almost 95%. I thought we’d got away from the days of simply exchanging the currency symbol when goods crossed the Atlantic, but apparently not. Someone, somewhere is indulging in price-gouging.
     
    I wonder if I should just buy it from Amazon in the US?

  • The Sound of Silence

    I hope that this will be my last comment on last week’s gay rights versus religious rights debate in the UK, but I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrow in a very ironical fashion when I read the piece by Giles Fraser, the Vicar of Putney, in today’s Guardian, entitled Atheists: the bigots’ friends.
     
    While I grant him the point that many Christians are fully in support of gay rights, it does also seem that most of them have kept pretty quiet about it recently. And then again, there’s the rather telling point that of the 26 Bishops who sit in the House of Lords, only five of them were present in the debate last week, and of them, only one(!) voted against the motion to deny equal rights to gay people. So that leaves four of them who are quite happy to have discrimination continue, and potentially there are a further 21 of them who would agree with them.
     
    But then again, perhaps Giles Fraser doesn’t think that the Bishops are representative of the views of many Christians. If so, it’s a peculiar state of affairs indeed. 
     
    Update: Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, has a little chat with Giles.

  • The Ten-Step Guide

    Mr. Eugenides indulges in a spot of "shooting fish in a barrel". Oh, I say, good shot, sir!

  • Comet McNaught

    I’m still being frustrated by the weather in my attempts to see comet McNaught before it gets too close to the sun. We’ve had cloudy skies for the best part of a week now.
     
    Some people have had more luck with the weather, as these pictures show. And here’s the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, talking about the comet.